The Latvian government is unlikely to satisfy the Health Ministry’s request for EUR 153.3mn of additional funding for hospitals in the 2025 state budget, LSM reports. Health Minister Hosams Abu Meri said that the money was needed for human resources, medicines, infrastructure, emergency services, digitalisation, and data security. However, the government has listed external and internal security as the only priority areas in the 2025 state budget. Valdis Keris, chairman of the Latvian Union of Health and Social Care Workers (LVSADA), noted that health care funding in Latvia was one of the lowest in the EU, leading to a high level of premature deaths. According to OECD data, Latvia loses 5,500 people yearly due to inadequately funded health care, he pointed out.